URDU BOOK REVIEW

1857: Some rare eyewitness accounts

By
Amar Nath Wadehra

Sarguzashte inquilab 1857 compiled by Kashmiri Lal Zakir and Prof. Sadiq

Mayyar Publications, Delhi. Pages: 176. Price: Rs. 150/-

Call it Sepoy Mutiny, India’s First War of Independence or the last hurrah/gasp of India’s effete princely states, there is little doubt that it was a cataclysmic event that firmly established the British as the subcontinent’s undisputed masters. The revolt lasted nearly two years. After the British annexed the kingdom of Oudh in 1856, many sepoys of the Bengal Army – who actually hailed from the areas comprising UP and MP – felt that their traditions were being trampled upon. When the East India Company issued new rifles along with cartridges greased with the fat of cows and pigs both Hindus and Muslims were outraged. On May 10, 1857, at Meerut, 85 soldiers, who had been chained for refusing to use the cartridges, were freed by their comrades. After killing many officers, the mutineers set out for Delhi, which they captured. Violence, anarchy and bloodshed touched the zenith reminding one of a couplet: har ek dasht-e-kaza mein kashaan kashaan pahuncha/jahan ki khaak thi jis jis ki woh wahaan pahuncha (Every one sooner or later reached the desert of death; arriving at the place to which his dust (body) belonged).

Contrary to the popular perception, in these hitherto ignored accounts, the rebels do not emerge as idealistic, gallant freedom fighters although the likes of Karl Marx had descried the rebellion as a befitting response to the treachery and venery of the British. This anthology comprises writings by those who were alive in those days and had been victims of or witnesses to all-round savagery, and the notorious disunity among Indians. There was no dearth of quislings, collaborators and tergiversators in the subcontinent that put paid to the aspirations of genuine seekers of liberty.

Ghalib describes the events in Delhi that took place between 11 May and 31 July 1857. The rebels, who had come from outside, were helped by the Indian soldiers in the Delhi garrison. Communication, mail and transport were disrupted and the “Quiladar Sahib” and “Agent Bahadur” were murdered. He calls the rebel soldiers namak haraam. He considers the rise of the British inevitable, and rationalizes that the destruction of one entity becomes the basis for the rise of another.

Fazal Khairabadi was a vocal critic of the British who had issued fatwa declaring jehad against them. He was arrested and exiled to the Andamans, where he died in 1861. Giving graphic details of various conflicts he mentions how, when the desperate British asked “western Hindus” for help, Maharaja Narinder Singh of Patiala and ‘dishonest Muslims’ helped them. He also alludes to Bahadur Shah’s escape to Humayun’s mausoleum where he was subsequently captured.

Another eyewitness, Abdul Latif, used to publish a Persian language paper. Although he had chronologically recorded the events from 11 May to 4 September reports only up to 11 June are available. Perhaps those accounts pertained to atrocities by the British and were deleted. He narrates how the embers of mutiny lit up in Meerut reached Delhi as inferno. He too terms the rebels namak haram and ehsaan faramosh. They killed the officers, looted and burnt their homes, broke open the jails and freed the criminal inmates who joined the mutineers in murder and pillage. Those dressed in western clothes were killed indiscriminately. Capt Douglas, who looked after the Red Fort’s security and Simon, the Resident, requested the Mughal King to issue a ‘hokum’ to put down the revolt. Latif further writes, ‘Those who tried to maintain the law and order were mercilessly put to sword. In brief, this namak haram and bad-anjam lashkar’s atrocities put even Changez Khan’s massacre to shade.’ On 16 May Bahadur Shah ordered Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan to put down the rebels with heavy hand. On 26 May, Kanwarjit Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala’s representative, came with supplies in support of the British.

Moinuddin Hassan Khan, who was kotwal of Paharganj, had saved Metcalf’s life from the rebels. Metcalf got his eyewitness account Khadang-e-gadar translated and published in English in 1898. The original manuscript remained u

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